Why do you love me?
by Airanke
Summary: She was at a loss as to why he loved her. Hidan & Konan one-shot. Inspired by Garbage's song "Why do you love me?". was supposed to be SO much longer...


(okay. Another HidaKona One-shot. that my ten year-old cousin loved to bits. I was like, shocked! AND OF COURSE I DIDN'T READ THE SWEAR WORDS OUT LOUD!! I changed them all. This is as close as I can get to writing Hidan in character... somewhat )

* * *

Konan didn't like him the first day he walked into the Akatsuki lair. He looked like such a pretty boy, with his silver hair slicked back away from his face, his pristine eyebrows, sharp features and violet-pink eyes. He was loud and obscene, and his cloak was always undone at the top, always exposing his chest. And that rosary of his... ugh, it made Konan sick sometimes. His weapon was a three bladed red and white scythe, and Leader-sama - or Pein, as she was allowed to call him - gave him the red ring; the one with the Kanji for "three" on it.

And yet Konan still bothered to learn that his name was Hidan.

And often times she wondered what exactly he thought of her.

* * *

Hidan thought her peculiar when he first entered the lair. She was quiet and meek, her hair a royal blue color, her lower lip almost always red, her eyes shadowed by a dark blue, her features soft and feminine. Her eyes captivated him often, bright amber colored, almost molten. Her hair she always had tied up in a tight bun, leaving fringes down to frame her petite face, and in the bun there was always a white paper flower. He always wondered what her weapon was and why she was always with the Akatsuki's bastard Leader. Her ring was the white one, the one that said "biyakko" on it. White tiger.

He learned from other members that her name was Konan.

And often times he wondered what exactly she thought of him.

* * *

Konan really came to despise Hidan. She hated it when he mocked Pein, and she wondered why Pein never did anything about it. He would always just clench his fist and storm off down the hall. Either that or he would glare at the silver haired man. Konan decided to ask Pein one day, "why do you not do anything to him when he mocks you?"

Pein reached out and stroked her face, "dear Konan, I can't hurt him. He's immortal."

Konan was shocked: she hadn't been expecting that. And Pein continued, "also, he likes feeling pain. And he likes inflicting pain."

She was impressed at the immortal part; disgusted at the second part. Pein smiled at her - or as close to a smile as he could manage - and left the room, leaving her to her thoughts. She flopped down on the bed, frustrated. Why was she so interested in the foul-mouthed immortal man? She didn't want to be interested. She wanted to be interested in Pein.

Try as she might, Konan could never get Hidan off her mind. She eventually found herself waiting in the main room, waiting for Hidan and Kakuzu to return from their missions - they did receive the most difficult ones, being the Zombie Team and all. Hidan would always spare her a glance when they came in, but otherwise the two would ignore each other; he ignored her because she looked like she didn't want to talk and she ignored him because she didn't want to admit she liked hearing him speak. This went on for at least three months, during which Konan and Hidan happened to get into several useless arguments about nothing in particular.

Then one day - and when Konan was in a particularly good mood - Hidan and Kakuzu came back from a mission. As per usual, the three of them ignored each other. But after Kakuzu had left the room, Konan became aware of a presence behind her back. She stiffened, her good mood already starting to go away.

"So how come you're always here when we come back, seriously?" he asked, his voice almost making her shiver but not quite. She nibbled on her lip, "... why do you want to know?"

He chuckled a little, most likely aware that she was avoiding the question, "oh, I just wanted to know. I mean, it's kind of obvious you aren't fucking interested in me."

Konan almost flushed, but she gained control over herself, "what makes you think I'm not interested in you?" and she instantly clapped a hand over her mouth. Hidan didn't respond; he only laughed as he walked down the hall to his room. Konan felt like throwing a kunai at him she was so furious. She stormed outside, only to find that the sky had clouded. She glared up at the sky and it opened up - with rain. She was drenched within seconds.

She just stood there, the rain ruining her make-up and streaming down her cheeks. Her hair started to come undone, and as the bun sprang out of its holdings the flower shot off to the side. Konan's eyes widened and she reached out for it, but ended up caressing the palm of another hand instead. She blinked a few times before realizing that the rain that had been pounding against her head and shoulders had ceased, and she glanced up. An umbrella was being held over her head. She looked back at the hand, focusing on her flower. She caught it between two of her fingers and pulled it out of the gentle grasp of the other hand. As she silently fixed her hair, she wondered if it was Pein behind her. But when she looked back at the hand...

Konan turned and almost gasped. Hidan stood behind her, holding the umbrella over her head while he himself got drenched. And he looked very hot. Wet. And he was looking at her oddly, his hair plastered about his face. Konan reached up and pushed a strand of hair out of his eyes, and he blinked, his eyelashes brushing over her finger. She tilted her head at him and he looked away, "...what?" he questioned in a quiet, soft voice. Konan jumped a little. Was it possible that she was seeing the more caring side of Hidan?

His eyes hardened and he scowled, "you're gonna' catch a fucking cold, seriously."

"What about you?"

"I'm immortal, bitch. I don't get colds that easily," and for a moment he looked like he regretted calling her a 'bitch'. Konan paid no heed to it; she had something she could use against him when the time came. His violet eyes flicked back to her face, "... I mean I recover from them quickly."

"Ah. Well... thank you for... coming out here," Konan said, smiling a little at him. His eyes widened in surprise before he said, "don't mention it," and then as she made her way back to the lair she heard him mutter, "it wasn't like your fucking bastard of a boyfriend was going to be coming out here any time soon..."

Konan smiled. Almost.

* * *

Even though Konan took a warm shower and went straight to bed, she woke up at three the next morning and found that she was sick. She snuffled a few times and coughed once before going back to sleep, feeling very much down.

When she woke up again she was startled to find that it was well past nine in the morning. She was in no mood to get out of bed though, so she snuggled back into the covers. Her eyes closed.

Minutes later she opened her eyes again, having been woken by the sound of her door opening and closing. She focused blurry eyes on the tabletop.

There was tea. And a muffin. And some cold pills.

Konan sat up instantly, wondering who in the world had left it there. She took the tea gingerly in her hands and took a sip, wrinkling her nose at the taste. Herbal. Medicinal. She hated it but... if it helped her recover from her cold...

Her eyes drifted over the muffin on its plate, and under it she spotted a white envelope. She blinked, set the tea down, and picked up the envelope. She opened it deftly and pulled out the note inside: _Told you so, _was messily written on it. She glared at the words before unfolding the note, and finding another one inside. She brightened up, recognizing the handwriting as Pein's, _Konan. Stay in today and rest. I'm leaving early; there are some matters I need to take care of. If you are feeling better when I return, I will discuss them with you. Be sure to thank Hidan for me, _and the letter was signed with his real name. Konan stared at the last sentence blankly, _Be sure to thank Hidan for me_, which meant that Hidan was the one that had made the tea and gotten the muffin and the medicine. She clenched her hands.

"You know, taking the medicine normally helps, seriously," a voice said from the doorway. Konan snapped her head up and glared at Hidan as Deidara walked by. The blonde man jumped when he saw her, "oh! Konan, you woke up."

Konan blinked, then stared at Deidara suspiciously, "why are you so surprised?"

"Mm, 'cause this morning when I walked by Hid -" and the blonde's mouth was covered by the immortal's hand. Deidara glared at him with his visible eye, pulled down his hand and continued, "Hidan was in here, and you were sleeping. Oh, Pein was in here too, but he was hiding in the corner... yeah," Deidara then proceeded to leave. Konan and Hidan stared at each other for a moment, before he turned, "take the damn pills," and with that he disappeared around the corner.

"Hidan!"

His head reappeared, "what?"

"Leader-sama thanks you."

The immortal blinked a few times before nodding stiffly and closing the door.

* * *

By the time Pein returned from his business Konan had recovered, and was waiting in his room. Pein was surprised to find her there, but pleased at least that she had gotten over her cold.

"Where are the others?" he asked, sitting down on the bed, his back to Konan.

"They went to the village to get some food."

"Mm. Very well, then I'll discuss with you. Come."

Konan went.

* * *

The next morning Konan awoke early - about five - naked, and feeling very, very... disgusting. She had never expected things to go this far with Pein. She looked over at him, his back to her, still asleep. His back always to her...

Konan sighed and got out of the bed. She shakily went into the bathroom and had a shower. She let the warm water flow down her skin; let it wash away everything that had happened last night.

After her shower she inspected herself in the mirror. There was a hickey on her shoulder, and quite a few marks from Pein's piercings here and there. She released a sigh, reached for some healing balm, and spread it over the marks. They went away with minutes. She proceeded to wrap a towel around her body.

Half an hour later - and after darting down the hall to her own room - Konan made her way tiredly to the kitchen. It was only six - no one would be waking up for a while...

Or so she thought.

Konan walked into the kitchen and almost collided with Hidan. They both jumped back a little, both surprised to see the other at such an early hour. They said nothing to one another, and instead went about doing what they had come to do. Konan sought out the coffee, and after making herself a cup she added so much cream that her coffee was pretty much milk. She had no idea that Hidan was watching her with an amused expression as she added enough sugar to kill somebody else. She picked up the large mug and prepared to leave, but a sudden spell of dizziness came over her. Konan's head drooped and when she refocused again she stumbled. The mug in her hands slipped in her grasp and her fingers went slack around it. She expected it to fall to the floor and shatter, but no such thing happened, because Hidan was suddenly in front of her, holding her hands firmly to the mug with his own. She bumped against him, leaned against him for a moment and when she finally regained her balance she looked up.

That's when it happened.

It was chaste and brief, but Konan's heart fluttered in her chest anyway. Her eyes opened - she hadn't realized she had closed them - and her face reddened under Hidan's confused yet alluring gaze. She tugged her hands out of his and darted out of the kitchen and into the safety of her room. Her door slammed shut and she leaned uneasily against it, '_why did that have to happen? Why? Why?'_

She avoided Hidan for the rest of the day, though she caught him staring at her a few times. However, he seemed to realize that she didn't want to speak of the incident, so he left her alone about it. After a day everything went back to normal - in Akatsuki terms, of course. Konan noticed a change in the other men, and realized after a few days that they must have figured out what happened between her and Pein.

There was a day when Konan woke up at two, and in no mood to go back to sleep - after laying in bed wide awake for half an hour - she got dressed and walked outside. She almost froze to death because of the cold temperature, and she blinked in shock at the white fluff on the ground. '_Snow!_,' she exclaimed inwardly. She watched it as it fell from the dark sky above her and she spun around in glee. It had been a long time since she had last seen snow.

And then two arms wrapped around her torso. She halted in her actions, and glared over her shoulder at the silver-haired man behind her.

"Why is it that you're awake when I'm awake?"

"Not sure, seriously," he muttered, releasing her. He took a step back, and looked at her hard. Konan glared at him just as hard.

"You know he's a bastard right?"

"You only told me that everyday a few months ago," Konan replied dryly, "but that's just because you don't like him."

Hidan grinned viciously, "I'm not the only one, trust me."

"Oh? Name someone else."

"Why drag them into this?"

"What this? There is _nothing_ going on here."

"You know what I mean, seriously."

Konan was silent. They were arguing just like they had been back when they had first met, except their arguments back then were pointless and... fun, Konan admitted. She turned her back to Hidan, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm in no mood to argue with you, Hidan."

"He's gonna' end up using you, ya know? He's fucking with you, seriously... in more ways then _one_," Hidan snarled. Konan whipped around and grabbed the collar of his cloak, "you don't even _know_ him! How dare you?"

They got into a little scuffle that Hidan won by knocking Konan off balance and pinning her to the ground. She shivered as her cloak got soaked through by the snow melting at her back. Try as she might to be angry with Hidan, she couldn't help but see some of the logic in his accusation. But he didn't know Pein as well as she did... he didn't know...

They continued to glare at each other, neither one wishing to back down, and Konan eventually lost. She lost because she couldn't keep her glare up. Hidan was closer to her then he'd ever been; his rosary dangling from his neck and lightly touching her chest. His breath flitted over her face and Konan couldn't help herself. She pressed a hand against the nape of his neck and pulled his head down. Konan chose the word timid to describe how they were both being about the whole attraction deal.

He got off of her much more quickly than she would have liked, but after he helped her up she found out why. A second after she stood, Pein opened the front door.

* * *

The jealousy Pein harbored for Hidan was evident. Whenever he was there Pein had Konan by his side. Konan was dragged everywhere with him. He didn't even like leaving her alone for a mere second. Eventually she took a stand and set up a few boundaries. For example, Pein was not to follow her when she needed to go the bathroom. She was a woman, and a kunoichi at that; she could defend herself. Konan was also sure to remind Pein that even though some of the Akatsuki members mocked him or paid him no heed that they still respected him. After a month, he let her wander around alone.

Shortly after this she started having more encounters with Hidan, some awkward, some regular meetings and some rather... romantic. Konan blamed Tobi for one incident that occurred that Christmas. Pein and Kakuzu had gone off to manage some finances, and Kakuzu had insisted that Pein let Konan stay at the lair and enjoy her Christmas.

"Stop fretting over her," the masked man had said, "she's a grown woman. If something happens mistletoe and Tobi were involved."

Which is exactly what happened.

Hidan had walked in the room and sat down on the couch. Konan had come in from the hallway with several mugs of hot chocolate. She had set the tray down on a table, given Hidan a mug and taken one for herself, then she sat down next to Hidan. Deidara walked in with Tobi, and the lollipop mask had disappeared suddenly. Deidara had thought nothing of it, picked up a mug and sat next to Itachi on the couch opposite the one Hidan and Konan occupied, and struck up a conversation with Kisame. The two eventually dragged Itachi into the conversation. That was when a jingling bell was heard, and all five looked up to find a black gloved hand holding mistletoe right in between Hidan and Konan. Deidara's first instinct was to kill Tobi.

"Wait!" Tobi had yelled, holding up his other hand and popping up from behind the couch, "Hida-kun and Konan-chan have to kiss first!"

"Hida-kun?" Hidan questioned, turning to look at Tobi with a less-than-impressed look. Tobi shrugged, giggled, and wiggled the mistletoe. Hidan had sighed, grabbed Konan's chin, and kissed her. Konan almost dropped her hug of hot chocolate. Pein and Kakuzu had returned two days later to find the other Akatsuki members passed out on the couches, Konan sleeping on top of Hidan. Kakuzu couldn't help but release a short laugh at the situation, even though he knew his Leader was less-than-happy with where Konan was.

* * *

Now Konan stood in front of a mirror, a little more than a year after Hidan had joined, putting make-up on her face. She kept telling herself that Pein loved her. Kept telling herself that this happened in any relationship and that it was _normal_ for everyone. Normal for everyone.

But eventually, Hidan found out.

And no, he didn't agree that abuse was _normal_ in any relationship.

She argued of course, claiming that Pein loved her. They were in Hidan's room, because it was far away from Pein's and Hidan didn't want to draw attention. The door was closed. Hidan's point crushed her claims, "if he loved you he would fucking respect you. If he loved you he wouldn't force you to do a single damned thing you didn't want to. _If he loved you_, if he really loved you... I honestly don't think he would beat you, seriously."

Konan didn't know what to say, and in a last attempt to defend Pein she blurted out, "how would _you_ know he beats me?! Do you watch us?"

Hidan growled at the accusation, "fuck, _NO_! Why the hell would I watch you? And, for Jashin's sake, Konan, anyone who pays attention would fucking notice that you're putting twice as much make-up on than you usually do."

Konan was stupid enough to tell Hidan to prove it. Hidan grabbed her arm and dragged her into the bathroom that was adjacent to his room, and immediately she tried to break away from him, "no, stop!"

Hidan picked up a cloth, got it wet and started rubbing at her face. She refused to scream and when he pulled the cloth away he forced her to look in the mirror, "if he doesn't beat you what the fuck is that huge black mark huh?! And what about this," he tapped her cheek, when there was a nasty red rash. Konan began to feel tears well up in her eyes, _'he loves me, he loves me, he loves me... Pein loves me...'_ she chanted to herself, but this time, it didn't help. She turned away from Hidan only to have him grab her shoulders and spin her around.

"How long do you plan on letting him do this to you?!" he yelled at what she assumed was the top of his voice. He had his hands on either side of her face, his violet eyes piercing. She tried to speak, couldn't, and started crying instead. Hidan touched his forehead to hers; she latched onto his arms.

"Hey? What? No, don't cry, Kona, don't cry," he whispered, thumbs wiping away her tears. She muttered a barely audible request, Hidan complied, and she was carried back to his room. She spent the night by his side.

The next day Hidan rounded up a few other Akatsuki members that he knew didn't like Pein. To Konan's surprise they ended up being Kisame, Deidara, Tobi and Zetsu. But then again, Zetsu was arguing with himself about his choice, so Konan didn't really think he counted. She could only imagine what exactly Hidan was doing, and when Kakuzu ducked inside the room with Itachi in tow, she believed that it wasn't a good thing. After two hours of silence and waiting, the hiding Akatsuki members grew restless. Kakuzu was the first one to poke his head out the door. He walked out.

Then Itachi followed him.

Kisame followed Itachi.

Deidara followed Kisame.

Tobi followed Deidara.

Zetsu followed Tobi.

And finally, Konan got up to follow Zetsu. Hidan stumbled into the room, covered in blood. He stared blankly at her for a moment, grabbed a towel, and went into the bathroom, slamming the door. Zetsu reappeared and gestured for Konan to follow, and she did.

The sight that met her eyes was horrendous.

One of the six path's of pain was stuck on the wall. There was blood every where, though that was now being cleaned up by the other men. Konan asked Kakuzu what exactly had been said between the two. He sighed before telling her.

"Hidan said that Leader-sama better let him beat at least one of the six Peins "shit-less". Pein complied, after much convincing that I didn't get to hear. Hidan was speaking in a very, very hushed voice at that time."

Konan fled back down the hall. She stopped in front of the bathroom door that Hidan had gone into. She hesitated before reaching for the handle. She turned it and found that it was unlocked. Taking a deep breath, Konan opened the door and walked inside.

Steam rushed against her face as she quietly closed the door, heart hammering in her chest. Hidan had done that for her. Hidan had always been there for her, rain and shine - literally. She shrugged out of her cloak, listening to the running water. She quickly dashed forward and hopped into the shower, colliding with Hidan's back and wrapping her arms around his torso. He released a startled gasp before glancing over his shoulder at her. She was still fully clothed and pressing her cheek against his spine.

"Thank you, Hidan. For doing that."

"You're welcome. Can I do something else for you?"

"What?"

In response he turned around and pulled her flush against his naked body. She blushed deeply, her eyes closing when his lips touched hers gently. His hands worked skillfully at her clothes - she helped him take her shirt off.

"Let me love you, Konan. Seriously. I'll treat you right."

So Konan let him. She enjoyed every minute of it, because it wasn't something she was being forced to do; it was happening because she wanted it to. And when she woke up the next morning, with the sun flowing warmly through the window, she was content as she lay there on top of Hidan. She was content because she was loved. But one question remained in her mind, and she watched him sleep until the sun woke him up. He smiled sleepily at her, and she smiled at him before asking, "Hidan. Why do you love me?"

He grinned and ran his hand lightly through her hair, "I love you, because I love driving you crazy. And don't deny that I don't drive you crazy, because you fucking said so yourself that I _do_. That's why I love you."


End file.
